CHANNEL/DANCE

AN EVENING OF MOVEMENT, ART, AND THEATER

Curated by Courtney Peix and Marc S. Miller

Channel/Dance, on Friday the Thirteenth of February and Valentine’s Day, offered endless possibilities for good luck and good feelings when ten of Boston’s adventurous choreographers collaborated with painters, photographers, playwrights, and other artists to create short movement works with imaginative and far-reaching visual and audio impact. Add the ingredients of a half-dozen of the briefest of movement-themed plays, and the result was an invigorating performance experience that surprised with its twists and turns.

Contrapose Dance and Fort Point Theatre Channel assembled eight teams, each joining choreographers with artists from non-dance disciplines, to collaborate in inventing performance works of under six minutes each. Juxtaposed with these movement pieces, the evening featured six new plays, each less than two minutes long. Selected from 80 submissions received from playwrights around the world, each had a connection to dance.

This collaboration with Contrapose Dance was the thirteenth in Fort Point Theatre Channel’s always surprising and exciting Exclamation Point! series of short new works.

The Lineup

Wrapped Atomic Number Two Attached

Created by Nicole Pierce (choreography) and Richard Dorff (design)Performed by Nicole Pierce, with live improvisation music by Mitchel King Ahern

Lift Up Your Crazy Legs

A play by B.W. ShearerDirected by Amelia LumpkinPerformed by Marc Pierre (Esk) and Johannes Jerez Van Osten (Roll)

Cherry Pierogis

A play by Kelli BurtonDirected by Amelia LumpkinPerformed by Gloria Clark (Anna May) and Marc Pierre (Phil)

Foreword/Afterword: A Piece in Two Parts

Created and performed by Rachel Boggia, Annie Kloppenberg, and Meredith LyonsInstallation by Peter Agoos

Robotic Interruptions

Created by the Wondertwins (choreography) and Nick Thorkelson (animation)Performed by the Wondertwins

Contrapose Dance was founded in 2008 by artistic director Courtney Peix out of a desire to present new, exciting, and entertaining works that engage and thrill audiences. This Cambridge-based repertory company presents modern, contemporary, and balletic works and aims to bring a continued fresh energy to the theater scene by commissioning innovative works, collaborating with unique artists, and producing high-quality dance art. It is through these commissions that Contrapose Dance actively expands its completely original repertory, working with emerging and established choreographers including David Parker (NY), Sydney Skybetter (NY), Marcus Schulkind (MA), Gianni Di Marco (MA), and Heidi Rood (Canada).

To date, Contrapose has participated in fifty+ performances and has twenty-five original works in its unique repertory. The company has received funding from the Somerville Arts Council and the National Science Foundation and was awarded the Boston Center for the Arts Dance Residency. Ultimately, Contrapose Dance hopes to bring a new generation of dance lovers along with us to a place where tradition and originality meet.

CHANNEL/DANCE: AN EVENING OF MOVEMENT, ART, AND THEATER was presented FREE, thanks to the generosity of our donors, including Boston Properties, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Boston Cultural Council.